It was a late evening when the skin-changer wandered into their camp.

Everyone was tired after a long day’s march and looking forward to eating together but Little Ant knew that was no excuse to be caught unaware like this. Neither could she figure out how the scouts had missed a skin-changer. The younger goblins went for their spears, but the skin-changer made them step back with a single stare.

At first glance the skin-changer looked like a large man even bigger than the viscount. He was dressed in furs. His hair was a tangled mess and his beard covered most of his face but as always, the skin-changer’s eyes gave him away. They were two islands of honey surrounded by dark waters.

Time was a strange thing. Normally ten seconds would pass by without notice but when you were face to face with a charging bear, ten seconds was a horrifying eternity. Little Ant could count every drop of sweat running down her back, and they felt like knives tickling her skin.

Only when Old Badger stepped out of her tent did time start flowing normally again. The grandmother goblin looked at the skin-changer who met her gaze with barely hidden disdain. Undeterred Old Badger walked over to him and bowed her head to him.

“Blessing of the Quiet upon you, your highness. What brings the Bear Clan here?”

When the skin-changer bear spoke, his voice rumbled like a falling tree.

“You know who I am?”

“Your reputation precedes you, Your Terrible Highness.” Old Badger said.

The skin-changer growled and every stomach in the camp was tied to knots. All except grandmother’s who was smiling her patient, friendly smile. The smile of a goblin who had looked Death in the eyes before and it had been Death who had blinked first.

“Then you know why I am here.” The skin-changer bear said and looked around the village.

When his gaze fell on Little Ant, his nostrils flared.

“You. Come here.”

She wanted to run… or fight but there was power in the skin-changer’s voice that left no room for disobedience or struggling. Her legs carried her to the skin-changer without her being able to stop it. The skin-changer got closer and closer with every step. Bigger and bigger. He was…

Old Badger’s hand touched her shoulder, and the spell was broken.

“She is a child of the Hillside Tribe, your highness. If you have business with her, you will speak with me.” Old Badger said.

The skin-changer’s beard split open and revealed a row of teeth that looked like gravestones. A flash of teeth was always a threat, and a noose was dropped around Little Ant’s neck.

“She killed one of our own.” The skin-changer said.

Old Badger’s smile remained but her eyes narrowed.

“But you already knew that.” The skin-changer said: “She killed him and left our brother to be eaten by crows. Crows! Our mother could not get to him in time. His spirit is dead. He cannot be reborn.”

This gave even Old Badger pause and she rubbed her brow.

“My condolences for your loss.” Old Badger said.

“Your condolences won’t bring him back.” The skin-changer said and looked at Little Ant: “I am a creature of reason. What about you, little goblin? Are you a reasonable creature? My clan has been disrespected. You have killed one of our own. Do you think this will stand?”

Little Ant had seen it all before. A skin-changer casting off his human disguise. For a moment she could see the skin-changer through the eyes of a dragonfly. Each lens showing a different side to him. One of them was a man who had survived as a bandit until coming across a skin-changing bear and his shape and memories had been added to the tapestry of souls. But all you had to do was turn your head a little to see the bear. A grizzly hill of muscle, teeth, and claws with eyes the color of dark honey.

The man had stepped back, and the bear had come forward.

“Blood for blood.” The bear prince growled: “Your life for my brother’s.”

The skin-changer’s transformation had been instantaneous, but it wasn’t the only change that happened in the camp. The moment the skin-changer bared his fangs at Little Ant, every goblin in camp forgot their fear and picked up their spears which were never far. The entire tribe rushed between Little Ant and the bear prince and raised their spears turning themselves into a wall of spikes.

The bear prince let out a furious roar.

“You’d protect this murderer?!”

“Our tribe survives because we protect our own.” Old Badger said.

The grandmother goblin was no longer smiling, and her face looked every bit as determined as her eyes. Even without her spear, she was far from defenseless.

“Then you can die with her!” The bear prince roared: “Bear Clan! To me!”

Suddenly, bears walked out of the woods into the clearing where they had made their camp. Bears large and small. All of them intelligent and deadly. They were silent and filled with terrible purpose. The look of soldiers marching to war.

“Blood for blood! Life for life!” The bear prince roared.

The words caught on with the other bears and they started chanting it in unison like a murderous choir.

“Blood for blood! Life for life! Blood for blood! Life for life!”

Fear was heavy in the air but if the bear prince had hoped to scare the goblins off, he knew little of the followers of the Quiet. When you were born a goblin, fear was always with you. Which meant fear was nothing new to them. Which meant fear could not coerce them. The bear prince was nothing special. Just another terror in the night they would avoid or kill.

When the bear prince realized he could not scare the goblins off, he clawed the ground in frustration.

“You wish to die? Then die!” The bear prince said.

The Bear Clan prepared to descend on the camp and Little Ant could see her family… her friends… her entire world getting mauled. And the only one who could stop it… was her.

“Wait!”

Little Ant had never screamed so loud, and her voice was powerful enough to cut through the Bear Clan’s chanting.

“Wait! Please!” Little Ant yelled and rushed before the bear prince: “Don’t hurt them! This… this is not my tribe! I banish myself! I banish myself from the Hillside Tribe! I denounce the tribe’s protection!”

A shock ran through the tribe like lighting through a tree. Tips of spears were lowered when her family and friends stared at her and then at Old Badger, trying to figure out what to do. Even the Bear Clan surrounding them looked surprised.

For the briefest moment, the bear prince’s eyes softened and there was a hint of respect when he looked at her. The roaring voice became almost polite.

“I suppose you have some honor after all. This will be over fast.” The bear prince said and opened his maw.

His teeth were sharp and his mouth big enough to swallow her in one bite. His breath smelled of blood and raw meat. She could almost see the people he had devoured before her. Would she become one of them? Or would the bear prince just digest her and…?

The bear prince yelped when Old Badger slapped his snout. Despite her age there was a layer of sturdy muscles under the wrinkled skin and the pain brought tears to the bear prince’s eyes.

“How dare you?” Old Badger said and the disappointment in her voice was infinitely more terrifying than the bear prince’s flaring temper.

For a moment the bear prince was too surprised by the pain to get angry. Then he raised his paw for a strike.

“You…!”

Old Badger stopped the strike with a single look. Almost like he had cut the skin-changer with her mind.

“Is this how a prince behaves?” Old Badger said and looked around at the Bear Clan that followed their prince’s bidding: “Is this what your clan has become? A bunch of brutes who would murder a child? I would expect this from the Cat Clan but you? When did the bears become such cowards?”

Even now Old Badger did not raise her voice but there wasn’t a single soul that didn’t cling to her every word. Even the fierce Bear Clan looked at each other and seemed… uncertain. A look that their prince didn’t miss.

“Who do you think you are to speak to me like that?” The bear prince growled.

Old Badger seemed to grow taller when she looked at the bear prince.

“I am Old Badger. When I was the companion of your cousin, His Savage Highness, I was called Wise Badger. I did not stand for such shameful behavior then and I do not stand for it now.”

His Savage Highness. The name sent shivers through the bears and even the bear prince looked unnerved, but he collected his bearings quickly.

“The fox prince is dead.”

“He is very much alive, and he is still my companion. He is still savage, and I am still a Fox Friend. The fox queen named me that herself. If you want justice, then we can have a trial.” Old Badger said.

“Did our brother get a trial?” The bear prince said: “I can smell the blood on her hands and spear. She is guilty.”

“Your brother was being controlled by a master vampire. It was the only way we could release him but… We did not wish for his soul to die.” Old Badger said.

Master vampire. Another word that gave the bear prince and his clan pause.

“You expect me to believe that there is a master vampire about?”

“It is the truth.” Old Badger said.

The bear prince glared at Old Badger and then at his own forces who were no longer fully behind his plan. His anger was fueled by humiliation but only the gleam in his eyes betrayed the inferno raging inside him. Only the gaze of his clan stopped him from throwing himself at the Hillside Tribe.

“You want a trial? Fine. Ten days. Bring me proof that there is a master vampire by then. If you fail, there will be trial by combat. I will kill her or whoever champions her.” The bear prince said.

Old Badger crossed her arms.

“You call this…?”

“Take it or leave it.” The bear prince said.

“Fine.” Grandmother said: “Leave. You’re no longer welcome here.”

“I will and when I return, you will share her fate. Guilty or innocent. After all, she is your responsibility and everyone else’s who defends her.” The bear prince said.

The bear prince turned his back on the Hillside Tribe and wandered into the forest. The rest of his clan looked around at each other and then followed their prince. The entire tribe stood still until they were sure the bears were gone. Then Old Badger took out her pipe and lit it.

You barely noticed how her hands shook.

The tribe stared at their grandmother and clung to her silence. Waiting for her to speak. To make it all okay.

“My friends… my lovely friends… my beloved family…” Old Badger said while smoking her pipe: “I am afraid… that my staying here would put you all in danger… which means I must banish myself. I banish myself from the Hillside Tribe and denounce the tribe’s protection. I can only hope you will welcome me back when the danger is over.”

Eyes were widened with horror and filled with tears following her words. A knife made from shame was plunged into Little Ant’s guts and she took her grandmother’s arm.

“No! Grandmother! You can’t! It’s not…”

Grandmother hugged her and held her tight enough to squeeze the tears out of Little Ant.

“You brave, foolish girl. You deserve a better travelling companion than a silly old woman like me, but we have to make do.” Old Badger said and then looked around at the tribe: “I hope we can stay as your guests for the night. We will be out of your hair in the morning.”